Blackhawks Burned At Home

Reto Berra stole the show in his NHL debut and the Calgary Flames defeated the Blackhawks at the United Center in overtime on Sunday night.

Berra, who played with Patrick Kane in Europe during the lockout, was phenomenal through regulation and into the overtime period. He successfully stopped 42 of 44 Chicago shots to earn a victory in his first NHL game.

Kane scored the Hawks’ first goal in the second period, giving the Blackhawks a lead that would last only 40 seconds. Mike Cammalleri tipped a shot past Corey Crawford to tie the game quickly after Kane’s tally.

Only 2:16 into the third, Curtis Glencross buried a missile past Crawford to give Calgary a 2-1 lead. The Flames would hold onto their lead for more than 13 minutes, until Marian Hossa scored a power play goal just as a two-man advantage expired.

Kris Russell put a shot on net from just inside the blue line 92 seconds into the overtime period that appeared to redirect off a leg and past Crawford for the winner. Crawford stopped 27 of 30 shots in the game after winning last night in Winnipeg. Glencross and Dennis Wideman both had two points in the game for the Flames, while Kane had two points for the Hawks in the loss.

There were a few bright spots for the Hawks in the defeat.

Marcus Kruger won nine of 13 faceoffs and was credited with two blocked shots and one takeaway in just under 13 minutes of ice time. Jonathan Toews won 18 of 27 faceoffs and Andrew Shaw won 12 of 18 draws as the Hawks dominated at the dot throughout.

Shaw added a team-high seven hits and two takeaways to an assist in a strong game. Toews led all Blackhawks in ice time with 22:24, and took a high stick to the face that went uncalled in the third period.

Jeremy Morin was limited to 7:21 in the game, more than three minutes less than any other Chicago forward. He was credited with two shots and one hit in 13 shifts, but was on the ice for Glencross’ goal early in the third.

Sheldon Brookbank returned to the lineup and was also on the ice for Glencross’ goal, but played a solid game in spite of the third period goal against. He was credited with the primary assist on Kane’s goal and had three blocks in just under 17 minutes.

On special teams, the Hawks were able to convert one of three power plays, officially; two of their penalties overlapped for almost two full minutes of a two-man advantage. Hossa scored one second after the first penalty expired. The Blackhawks successfully stayed out of the penalty box for almost 62 minutes.

This was just one of those games. You have to tip your hat to the other team. Flames came in and played a tight road game, relied on their keeper to bail them out, and scored enough to win in ot. Hawks had their chances, but no bounces last night. Can’t fault the effort. They put plenty of rubber towards the net.

90% of those 70 shots were from way out in the perimeter and one-and-done. If they drive the net more and/or shoot more from the “house” area nobody would be talking about Berra except to say the Flames shouldnt have put him out there for his first game.

So I caught up on watching the Sens game. I think Khabi was much worse in the game against TB. It was a complete defensive failure against the Sens.

Other than that, another game mismanaged by Q. If you are going to bench players because you don’t think they are defensively reliable, why is Kane being double shifted? I’m a big supporter of Kane and I think he has taken strides to improve his game defensively, but he’s been caught loafing way too many times this season.

And Wall, as soon as I saw Shaw and Kane out there again I knew it was over. Still think Crow should have stopped that shot, but it seemed to really catch him off guard. He didn’t even react once it was behind him.

Anyway, way to go Q! Shorten your bench in back to back games. Certainly recipe for success.

So right guys…there were no weaknesses to the Hawks game…they rolled 4 lines, they unleashed 70 shots, 44 on net, didn’t take penalties, won the physical battle, won the face-offs, won the puck possession game…they even scored a PP goal…the CGY goalie just gave us a little Ray Emery pay back…that was an incredible performance by the Swiss goalie and these things happen from time to time…and when you are the Chicago Blackhawks, they happen quite a bit because teams always come with their A+ game for fear of being blown out…

I know that Q really wanted those 2 points…he short shifted the rookies in the 3rd period and started CC back to back when Khabby would have been a more “logical” choice…well not Khabby, but the backup goalie…now Q is left with a big decision for tonight…go back to Khabby and risk the game, or stick with CC and ensure 2 points?

Wall, I agree, in OT Kane must be paired with either Toews or Hossa, he’s too much of a defensive liability if we don’t score…

JS, Q is that old school hockey coach…he relies on his veterans…if Q had his way he would NEVER bring up any rookies…Shaw and Kruger are throw back players and Q latched on to them right away…Leddy was a glaring need…Saad won over Q with his strong, consistent game…after that Q has turned a cold shoulder to everyone else…the Hawks really didn’t need to go out and sign Kostka and Peckham this off season, but you could see Q was behind that, and it cost Stanton a place in this organization…Brookbank should have been dealt but he stuck around (and has been better).

When in doubt Q runs back to what he knows best…shorten his bench and rely on the “guys who got you there”…and its probably fortunate that Q did start CC, because if that’s Khabby and he gives up 3 or 4, we don’t even get a point…

I haven’t said much of anything about Stanton since his getting waived and claimed by the Knuckleheads…but the Canucks are THRILLED with his game and his consistency…they now have a young DMan for the next 6-8 years that plays a sound, stay at home game, and is physical around his own net…and we let this happen for Kostka (knee), Peckham (struggling in Rockford) and Sheldon Brookbank…there really wasn’t a lot of wisdom behind this, and Bowman has lots of wisdom…I think we all can see who was behind Stanton’s getting waived…the coach controls the lineup card (roster).

The players give the fire helmet to their player of the game. I still don’t think he did anything that great in net and if the quality of shots is better he gets shelled. He gave up some fat rebounds consistently.

To Add to my point that Flames played a “Blackhawk’s type of game ” (allowing perimeter shots and sweeping away all loose change around goal…) I noticed that Flames really made a point of not going out of their way to Hit/lay the body on Hawks ( just like Hawks)… My guess is that the Flames wanted to keep 5 guys in between the Hawk’s and their net as much as possible- laying the body would result in much more 3-3 and 4-4 open ice… just a thought!

We may never see faceoff numbers like those again. The 2nd/3rd pds we just couldn’t hardly lose. This after a very avg first pd. and 37 going 2/10. We played solid, carried the
majority of the game, and did some things well… but again, we are leaving points out on the ice that should be in our back pockets. I know its reg season, long grind, cant win em all, wait til spring bs, but these guys play for one reason, to win the game. Old coach always used to say ”a win pays double boys, lets get all we can”.

I agree Yogi wasn’t really tested… but on the other hand- the saves and glove looked very smooth… Crow makes those same glove saves- but usually stabs or flails a little! That Berra kid looked like he was playing catch with a five year old!

just a sec to talk about 81…. it sure is good to see Hossa looking like the horse he can be. had he not come to Chicago i doubt if i would have ever seen him play enough to really appreciate and understand all he is capable of even at 34. he’s probably my fave player to watch, just to see how he plays and positions himself. Works like hell. Strong as an ox, plays bigger than 210. He and 10 decided to play keep away for what seemed like 45 sec last night, when the puck ended up out of the o zone it was still all Calg could do to ride 81 off of it.

I was really concerned about his health after the hit from Torres, mentally and physically and then to have the back problems creeping in and how quickly that can end a career, it was tough not knowing how he was really doing. Then the slow start to the season and more speculation about his health. He must be feeling fairly well as of now and that is a great relief for all Hawk fans I would think. Heres hoping Hoss can come close to a full season on the ice.

@wall, do you sense CC handles penalty shots differently than shootouts? Seems like a silly point, and i got no numbers on it, just observing but he seems to fair well on PS while face diving so often it seems in SO

CC has stopped 7/7 as far as penalty shots go. He definitely seems to stay more upright. I would guess he out thinks himself in shoot outs and over commits to pretty much every deek. Although, if you look at his career numbers, he’s one of the best shoot out goalies in the league.

I’m very surprised Calgary has as bad of a record as they do when it seemed like they played a pretty good game… as good a game as you can play when surrendering 70 shots, that is. Then again, coming into last nights game their combined save percentage was like .886 or something god awful.

Wall, Agreed. The Hawks are 1-2-2 against teams with good records, Wild, TB, St Louis. The Hawks have to play better against top 10 teams…..and they will. That said, the Hawks have 22 out of 30 possible points. They are beating the teams they must beat.

How does Raanta compare with Berra? Each is from Europe and was in the minors “adjusting to the North American game”. Although it is a small sample size, I would say that Berra has officially adjusted. Has Raanta adjusted and is he ready for the NHL?

Watched some of the Wings/Jets game last night. Good to see a Big night for X-Hawks. Jets looked like a different team. Detroit’s lack of overall team speed was exposed by the Jets. Almost 50 shots on goal. I hate the Wings so I loved the game.

Yea, we havnt played ‘a third’ of our games against top10 teams, but they havnt played us as well. We have points in 13/15 games, it doesn’t get any better than that (except for 2013…)(even though some of those early games we dominated or outplayed teams by a lot & four 2-0 leads didn’t result in the 8 pts. we deserved…)(ie. Tampa Bay had no right to be tied in both of those games, etc.)

The important/good thing is were playing Blackhawk hockey now. Hoss is up to speed now (no preseason) and looks wicked with puck. Were getting better as we go along & want to keep building on our team game. By the time/when were playing more than ‘a third’ of our games against other top teams, we ll be a mid-season form. Just how we like it.

I think Calgary sarted 3-0-2, so they have been playing good, this year. Would have thought Calgarys & Edmontons records were reversed… before the season started.